The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Helleborus plant, botanically known as Helleborus orientalis Hybrid, and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name HGC Merlin.
The new Helleborus is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Glandorf, Germany. The objective of the breeding program was to create new Helleborus cultivars with a good plant habit, that flower for a long period of time, and have attractive flower coloration.
The new Helleborus originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor in January, 1999 in Glandorf, Germany of an unnamed seedling of Helleborus orientalis Hybrid, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with an unnamed seedling of Helleborus orientalis Hybrid, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Helleborus was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled environment in Glandorf, Germany.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by divisions at Glandorf, Germany since March, 2001, has shown that the unique features of this new Helleborus are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.